2019 ProDriver 100 – Growth in a tough market

Karhoo Prodriver 100 300

The definitive league table of the UK’s private hire and taxi industry

Despite austere economic conditions, the looming catastrophe of Brexit and an onslaught of new app-driven market entrants, Britain’s private hire and taxi industry is managing to weather the storm.

As was the case in 2018, takeover and merger activity has more or less ground to a halt. There are instances of large operators picking off smaller rivals, for example V-Cars recently acquiring a rival in Swindon, adding around 100 cars to the fleet. But there have been no significant takeovers within the ProDriver 100.

Nevertheless, Britain’s 100 largest private hire and taxi operators have continued to grow in terms of fleet size.

The leading 100 private hire operators in the UK grew their combined fleet from an adjusted base of 57,776 in 2018 to 58,897 as of the end of September 2018.

The increase, of 1,121 vehicles, represents a 1.94% increase in the overall fleet of the top 100 companies. This growth rate is considerably less than the change from 2017-18, where the overall fleet grew by 3,438 vehicles, a rise of 6.28%, and less than the 2016-17 increase of 3.57%. So there is a slowing of the national figure, though this is skewed rather by events in London.

The 2019 figure has been adjusted to include like-for-like data about a small number of companies omitted from last year’s table. It means average fleet size among the leading 100 companies has risen from 582 to 589.

While economic conditions haven’t changed dramatically in the past 12 months, but the impact of new technology-driven ride-hailing apps such as Uber is harder to pin down. There is plenty of evidence that Uber may have peaked in London, and indeed, it is struggling to convince Transport for London that it should receive a full licence.

Nevertheless, Uber continues to have an impact in London, taking business from black cans and private hire operators alike. And it is itself under threat from a number of new market entrants, all competing for the same limited pool of drivers. Taxify morphed into Bolt, and now has a London licence. French operator Kapten has also entered London, but Indian-backed rival Ola has only attempted to launch in cities away from the capital. Uber’s main US rival, Lyft, is rumoured to be poised to enter, but is yet to show its hand.

We are still not including these ride-hailing apps in the list, as it is difficult to pin down an actual number of Uber cars in operation. Uber’s fanciful claim of 40,000 is not backed up in the real world, and many Uber drivers work only part-time for the business, and may work for rivals as well as existing operators as well.

Outside London the position is different, though Uber’s disregard for local licensing makes it again hard to pin down exactly where the drivers are based. If we can devise a reliable formula, we’d make the case for including these operators.

The research also shows that the top 100 companies operate more than one in five of all the taxis and private hire vehicle in use. New DfT figures for England alone give an overall figure of around 291,800, and an adjusted “England 100” shows that the leading 100 operators operate around 19% of the total number of cars.

The entry point for the ProDriver 100 has risen significantly since 2016, but has actually fallen slightly since 2018. In 2016 a fleet of just over 200 cars was enough to gain entry to the table; in 2017 the bottom line had risen to 235 cars. In 2018 it rose to a peak of 270 cars; indeed, but has fallen back to 260 this year.

A number of companies that were previously in the top 100 have fallen out due to decreases in fleet size, and one company. Sovereign Executive of London, appears to have been wound up since 2018, though it may have restarted under a different brand, with fewer cars.

We’ve also captured data on a number of companies that had previously not volunteered their information to us. This has had the effect of pushing some of the smaller companies down and out of the table, but not sufficiently to increase the entry point.

We’re still monitoring companies down to 200 and below vehicles, though beyond this point it becomes harder to identify the operators. A very large number of local operators have fleets of around 100 cars, but reaching a fleet size of 150 is a little harder to achieve, and often involves local mergers or takeovers.

Addison Lee is still number one, though its fleet has declined slightly. Tristar Worldwide, acquired in 2017, took on its parent’s executive fleet. This leaves Tristar at number 8 in its own right – the combined Addison Lee group fleet would be 4,700, down from 5,325 in 2018, an indication of how tough it is in London even for a market dominator.

We continue to report the four Veezu subsidiaries as separate companies, as other than some common systems, there is little synergy between the companies. Bristol-based V Cars, number 7 in the ProDriver 100. Veezu subsidiaries Amber Cars (number 11), Dragon Taxis (12) and A2B (21) would give Veezu a combined fleet of 3,520, which would place it a clear second in the ProDriver 100.

The entry point for the top 20 has risen to 750 cars, the highest level to date. Back in 2015 when the ProDriver 100 started, a fleet of more than 500 cars would have made the top 20. This indicates the way the table is compressing at the top end. The big are getting bigger. Even so, there has been some evidence of fleet sizes falling at the very top, with the top 10 entry point falling from 950 cars to 915. Still a substantial target for any company looking to get really big.

The 2018 ProDriver 100 is the only detailed and definitive research study into the leading private hire and taxi operators in the UK. It is now in its fifth year. The ProDriver 100 ranks the top private hire, chauffeur and taxi operators in order of fleet size.

Professional Driver has refined and cross-checked the data since 2018. All companies in the list have been contacted and their data has been updated where new figures are available. We haven’t split hackney operators from private hire operators – indeed, many companies outside London operate under a dual licence system. We have this year for the first time included the largest London Black Taxi fleets. While these companies are fleets of one-man operators, they are tied to a specific operator’s “circuit “ and generally do not work for competitors.

Uber is not included; nor are other app-based technology platforms. Although Uber does register as a licensed private hire operator in the cities where it offers a service, it could hardly be defined as a conventional operator. It may hold licences and hire drivers, but the terms of employment are very different to most other firms. 

Ranking 2019 Ranking 2018 Move Company HQ / City Fleet Size 2019 Fleet Size 2018 Fleet Size Change System
1 1 0 Addison Lee London 3,750 4,300 -550 Own
2 2 0 ComCab / DialaCab London Black Cab Fleet London 2,700 2,500 200 N/A
3 3 0 Delta Taxis Bootle 2,200 2,100 100 MT Data
4 4 0 City Taxis Sheffield 1,950 1,950 0 iCabbi
5 6 1 Alpha Taxis Liverpool 1,350 1,100 250 iCabbi
6 5 -1 Go Carz Shrewsbury 1,200 1,200 0 iCabbi
7 8 1 V-Cars Bristol 1,050 950 100 iCabbi
8 7 -1 Tristar West Drayton 950 1,025 -75 Own
9 9 0 Fonacab Belfast 925 925 0 iCabbi
10 10 0 Boro Taxis Middlesbrough 915 915 0 Autocab
11 11 0 Amber Cars Leeds Leeds 900 850 50 iCabbi
12 11 -1 Dragon Taxis Cardiff 850 850 0 iCabbi
12 11 -1 Glasgow Taxis Glasgow 850 850 0 Cordic
14 14 0 Value Cabs Belfast 800 800 0 Autocab
15 27 12 Street Cars Manchester 775 607 168 Autocab
15 21 6 Argyle Satellite Birkenhead 775 700 75 iCabbi
15 15 0 Network Private Hire Glasgow 775 775 0 Autocab
18 18 0 Aqua Cars Portsmouth 750 725 25 Autocab
18 17 -1 Arrow Cars Leeds 750 750 0 iCabbi
18 15 -3 DG Taxis Nottingham 750 950 -200 Autocab
21 19 -2 A2B Radio Cars Solihull 720 720 0 iCabbi
22 20 -2 Speedline Taxis Milton Keynes 715 715 0 Autocab
23 33 10 Skyline Taxis Milton Keynes 700 500 200 iCabbi
24 22 -2 Panther Taxis Cambridge 679 660 19 iCabbi
25 22 -3 Parker Car Service Isleworth 660 660 0 Cordic
26 24 -2 Blueline Taxis Newcastle-Upon-Tyne 650 650 0 iCabbi
27 26 -1 Britannia Taxis Liverpool 625 625 0 iCabbi
28 64 36 Brunel London 600 400 200 Catalina
28 27 -1 Green Tomato Cars London 600 600 0 Own
28 27 -1 Southern Taxis / South Coast Taxis Saltdean 600 600 0 N/A
31 64 33 King Kabs Chester 575 420 155 Autocab
32 30 -2 Lucky 7 Private Hire Stoke-On-Trent 556 556 0 Autocab
33 24 -9 Club Cars Wythenshawe 550 650 -100 iCabbi
33 31 -2 Mainline Sevens Salford 550 550 0 Autocab
35 33 -2 The Keen Group London 540 500 40 Cordic
36 32 -4 Metro Taxis Bolton 525 525 0 Autocab
37 48 11 Noda Taxis Newcastle-Upon-Tyne 520 520 0 Autocab
38 33 -5 Goldline Car Services London 510 510 0 Autocab
39 33 -6 Skyex Hayes 500 515 -15 Autocab
39 78 39 Lynx Taxis Stockport 500 300 200 Icabbi
39 33 -6 Central Taxis Coventry 500 500 0 Sherlock
42 52 10 Budget Taxis Newcastle-Upon-Tyne 480 410 70 Autocab
43 39 -4 City Cabs Edinburgh 475 475 0 Other
44 39 -5 Royal Cars Oxford 472 475 -3 iCabbi
45 41 -4 Capital Cars Edinburgh 465 465 0 Cordic
45 41 -4 Central Radio Taxis Edinburgh 465 465 0 Cordic
47 43 -4 Castle Cars Birmingham 460 460 0 Autocab
48 55 7 Royal Cars Stockton-On-Tees 450 465 -15 iCabbi
48 43 -5 iRide London / Swiss Cottage Cars London 450 450 0 Autocab
48 46 -2 Dean Taxis Gateshead 450 430 20 Autocab
48 43 -5 247 Radio Cars Birmingham 450 450 0 iCabbi
52 71 19 Max Cabs Accrington 435 325 110 iCabbi
52 52 0 TC Cars Birmingham 435 435 0 Autocab
54 46 -8 Wheels Private Hire Leeds 430 430 0 Autocab
55   N/a AK Manor Birmingham 425 425 425 Autocab
55 48 -7 Cresta Cars Manchester 425 425 0 Autocab
55 48 -7 LA Taxis Newcastle-Upon-Tyne 425 430 -5 Autocab
55 48 -7 Rainbow City Taxis Aberdeen 425 425 0 Auriga
59 55 -4 Radio Taxis Southampton 420 415 5 Autocab
59 109 50 Star Cars Birmingham 420 420 0 Autocab
61 52 -9 Go Cars Luton 405 410 -5 iCabbi
62 55 -7 Abbey Cars Feltham 400 400 0 iCabbi
62 55 -7 Metro Taxis Stockport 400 410 -10 Autocab
62 55 -7 Atlas Cars London 400 400 0 Cordic
62 55 -7 ECPH Edinburgh 400 400 0 iCabbi
66 70 4 Abba Cars Warrington 380 330 50 Cordic
67 92 25 Roadrunners Gatwick 375 250 125 iCabbi
67 33 -34 TOA Taxis Birmingham 375 500 -125 Cordic
69 101 32 Albatross Cars Derby 370 370 0 Autocab
69   N/a ComCab Liverpool Liverpool 370 370 0 N/A
71 62 -9 Streamline Taxis Brighton 365 365 0 Sherlock
71 62 -9 Southside Radio Cars Glasgow 365 365 0 iCabbi
73 71 -2 A1 Minicabs Romford 350 325 25 Own
73 64 -9 Central Cars Nottingham 350 350 0 Autocab
73   N/a Kelvin Kabs East Kilbride 350 350 350 Autocab
73 64 -9 Tele Taxis Dundee 350 350 0 Auriga
77 85 7 Magnum Whiteline Taxis Manchester 330 280 50 Autocab
77   N/a Elton Bullitt Bury 330 330 0 N/A
79 71 -9 001 Taxis Oxford 325 325 0 iCabbi
79 71 -9 Brighton and Hove Radio Cabs Brighton 325 325 0 iCabbi
81 78 -2 Data Cars London 325 300 25 iCabbi
82 75 -8 Premier Cars Leeds 320 330 -10 Autocab
83   N/a Huddersfield Taxis Huddersfield 310 310 310 N/A
83 76 -8 Mantax Cars Manchester 310 310 0 MT Data
85 64 -22 Nottingham Cars Nottingham 300 370 -70 Autocab
85 78 -8 ABC Cars Wolverhampton 300 300 0 Autocab
85 78 -8 City Cabs Leeds 300 300 0 Other
85 78 -8 Manchester Cars Manchester 300 300 0 Autocab
85 78 -8 Taxi First Plymouth 300 300 0 Autocab
90 84 -7 Alpha Cars Crawley 290 290 0 Autocab
91 76 -16 Ambassador Cars Birmingham 280 250 30 Autocab
91 104 12 Heritage Cars Birmingham 280 280 0 Autocab
91 90 -2 Phoenix Cars Blyth 280 280 0 Autocab
94 86 -9 Station Cars Purley 275 275 0 Cordic
94 86 -9 Bounds Taxis Northampton  275 275 0 iCabbi
94 86 -9 Fairway & Kenwood Taxis London 275 275 0 Cordic
94 92 -3 SRC Taxis Liverpool 275 263 12 Autocab
98 89 -10 Advance Cars London 270 270 0 Cordic
99 92 -8 Capital Cabs Cardiff 260 260 0 Autocab
99 103 3 Hawk Express Cabs Ipswich 260 260 0 Autocab
    1 TOTAL   58,897 57,776 2,206  

Bubbling under – the next 25 companies

The price of entry to the ProDriver 100 has settled down – and actually fell slightly from a fleet of 270 private hire vehicles to get into the main table to 260. Six of the companies in the 10 places below the main chart are companies that last year featured in the big league, but have this year experienced relegation Some have suffered a decline in fleet size, but others have simply been overtaken by new entrants.

And some of those companies that were knocking on the door of the ProDriver 100 last year now find themselves further away from the big league – a small decrease in fleet, perhaps though “right-sizing”, can result in a drop of 10 places or more in this volatile environment.

For companies that are all part of the “200-plus Club” – it wouldn’t take much – some organic growth, or perhaps a local takeover – for any of them to make the table in future.

Below 200 cars it becomes more difficult to keep tabs on operators. There are many hundreds of such operators in the UK – TfL estimates 115 operators above 101 cars in London alone.

RANK 19 RANK 18 MOVE 19-18 COMPANY CITY 19 FLEET 18 FLEET CHG
101 104 2 Club Taxis Leicester 258 265 -7
102 91 -12 Apple Taxis Exeter 255 340 -85
103 92 -12 Alphabet Cars London 250 250 0
103 104 0 Amber Cars London London 250 250 0
103 92 -12 United Maxis Taxis Wishaw 250 250 0
103 92 -12 Premier Taxis Cardiff 250 270 -20
103 92 -12 Apple Central Taxis Weston-Super-Mare 250 330 -80
108 101 -8 City Cabs Londonderry 240 240 0
109 121 11 A2B Euro Cars Peterborough 235 235 0
110 55 -56 35 Taxis Hull 230 400 -170
111 104 -8 A1 Cabco Ltd Cambridge 225 225 0
111 104 -8 Road Runner Minicabs Croydon 225 225 0
113 110 -4 Cannon Cars Limited     Bromley 215 215 0
114 113 -2 The Taxi Company Londonderry 200 200 0
114 113 -2 Station Taxis Sunderland 200 200 0
114 113 -2 Diamond Cars Telford 200 200 0
114 113 -2 Goodwins Olympic Manchester 200 200 0
114 113 -2 Greyhound Cars    London 200 200 0
114 113 -2 Inverclyde Taxis Glasgow 200 200 0
114 113 -2 Kingsway Cars Manchester 200 200 0
114 121 6 Andicars Havant 200 200 0
114   New ComCab Aberdeen Aberdeen 200 200 0
114   New Need a Cab Plymouth 200 200 0
124 110 -15 Links Taxis Grimsby 190 215 -25
125 120 -6 Torbay Taxis Torquay 185 185 0

Industry on the up for five years

The ProDriver 100 has now been running since 2015, allowing us for the first time to put together a five-year trend tracker of key performance indicators in the table.

The results of the 2015 survey, as a first attempt at drawing together such a major research project, understated the size of the market – we were only able to capture information about companies we knew- and the fragmentary, regional nature of the private hire and taxi sector meant some substantial regional players were simply under the radar.

But from 2016, the overall picture is pretty accurate. We continue to pick up hitherto undiscovered companies, but the effect or adding them in at the expense of the lowest-ranked firms is negligible in the big picture.

And we can see that in the three years since 2016, the overall combined fleet of vehicles operated by the top 100 companies has grown by almost 8,000. An impressive upsurge, in a market that is heavily disrupted by ride-hailing companies, and has had to operate in a difficult economy. These negative factors are perhaps starting to bite now – growth has slowed significantly compared to previous years.

The top 10 companies account for a disproportionately high proportion of the overall fleet – and the top 10 would be bigger if disparate activities that fall under the same corporate umbrella were combined. Only one of Veezu’s operations make the top 10, while Addison Lee’s Tristar subsidiary is listed separately. Only the London part of ComCab makes the top 10 too. If all the elements of these three groups were included, the top 10 figure would grow to 20,030 vehicles.

The entry points for the ProDriver 100, as well as for the Top20 and Top 10 are interesting to note. Following three years of steady growth, these numbers appear to have hit a plateau, with the fleet size required to react number 100 and number 10 both actually falling this year. 

  2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Combined ProDriver 100 fleet 39,704 50,991 53,198 58,208 58,897
ProDriver 100 year-on-year growth n/a 13.04% 3.57% 6.28% 1.94%
Average ProDriver 100 fleet size 397 510 531 582 589
Combined Top 10 company fleets 13,330 14,775 15,010 17,000 16,990
Average Top 10 fleet size 1,333 1,477 1,501 1,700 1,699
Entry Point for Top 10 650 850 850 925 915
Entry Point for Top 20 500 625 720 715 750
Entry Point for Top 100 150 209 235 270 260

Bands of 10 by size

Dividing the ProDriver 100 into bands of 10 gives an indication of where the biggest growth is taking place.

The top 10 remains stable, accounting for 28.85% of the total ProDriver 100 fleet, down slightly on 2018’s 29.21%. Among the leading companies some have added cars while others have contracted, resulting in a static picture, with growth of just 0.15%, well below the overall average of 1.94%. The 11-20 bracket is also at a similar level to 2018.

But lower down, between 21 and 40, we see mid-sized companies outperforming the market, with largely organic growth of between 8% and 9%. These are the strongest numbers in 2019.

Lower down the list, between 41 and 80, growth has slowed significantly. In 2018, we saw growth of just under 18% for the 51-60 band and 11% for the 61-70 band; this year the figures are just 2.26% and 0.91% respectively. Below that level, growth appears to slow, and between 81 and 90, as in 2018, growth slips into negative.

The final band of 10 is bound to show growth as growing companies enter the table in place of those in decline. But it is perhaps telling that the entry point for the ProDriver 100, which increased steadily from 200 to 270 in 2018, actually fell in 2019 to 260.

Band 2019 2018 19-18 % CHG % OF TOTAL
01-10 16,990 16,965 25 0.15% 28.85%
11-20 7,975 7,857 118 1.50% 13.54%
21-30 6,549 6,130 419 6.84% 11.12%
31-40 5,326 5,031 295 5.86% 9.04%
41-50 4,667 4,595 72 1.57% 7.92%
51-60 4,290 4,195 95 2.26% 7.28%
61-70 3,875 3,840 35 0.91% 6.58%
71-80 3,440 3,340 100 2.99% 5.84%
81-90 3,055 3,135 -80 -2.55% 5.19%
91-100 2,730 2,688 42 1.56% 4.64%
  58,897 57,776 1,121 1.94% 100.00%

Executive chauffeuring leaders

It’s hard to get a handle on the chauffeur sector – many of the mid-sized companies are rather discreet, and are rather shy in coming forward with data.

The leading companies fall into two categories – companies that are specialist chauffeur firms, offering only premium and business services, or larger private hire fleets that operate a premium service too – often quite a large fleet.

Tristar Worldwide remains the leader in the sector, and the transfer of Addison Lee’s entire 500-strong executive fleet to Tristar in 2018 bolstered the specialist brand’s fleet to more than 1,000 cars.

Most of the operators are in London – the only interlopers in the table from outside the capital are divisions of large private hire fleets, including three Veezu subsidiaries in Leeds, Cardiff and, in particular, Birmingham, where it has 300 cars of Mercedes E-Class or equivalent..

London is still the main market for chauffeuring on an industrial scale – other operators such as Carey and Crawfords are outside the ProDriver 100, though they remain substantial chauffeur firms. Likewise, Parker Car Service, the third largest London private hire fleet with 625 cars, has an executive fleet of around 150 vehicles.

Rank PD100 rank Company City Exec fleet ’19
1 8 Tristar West Drayton 950
2 21 A2B Radio Cars Birmingham 300
3 48 Royal Cars Stockton-On-Tees 275
4 28 Brunel London 200
4 114 Carey Group London 200
6 n/a Sovereign London London 180
7 n/a Excel Executive London 150
7 28 Greentomato Cars London 150
7 48 iRide London London 150
7 25 Parker Car Service London 150
11 n/a Driven Worldwide London 137
12 n/a Crawfords London 125
13 n/a We Know Group London 120
13 48 Dean Taxis Gateshead 120
15 11 Amber Cars Leeds 100
15 18 Arrow Cars Leeds 100
15 12 Dragon Taxis Cardiff 100
15 24 Panther Taxis Ltd       Cambridge 100
15 15 Street Cars Manchester 100
15 52 TC Cars Birmingham 100

Regional Growth

The best-performing big private hire and taxi fleets are in the North-west and South-east outside London. Both these areas, together with the small number of ProDriver 100 companies in Wales and South-west England, considerably outperformed the national average fleet size growth rate of 1.94%.

Northern Ireland and Scotland, which grew strongly between 2017 and 2018, appear to have reached a plateau, with no reported growth in either area. South-east England appears to be the most volatile region, reporting strong growth in 2016-17, a decline in 2017-18 and strong growth of 5.8% this year.

In the North-west, fleet size is increasing most strongly. The past 12 months has seen growth of 8.62% on average, driven by strong and growing operators on Merseyside and in Greater Manchester. But the North-East and Yorkshire cannot match this, while across the Midlands, the overall combined fleet of the biggest operators actually fell.

Evidence of the disruption in London is clear. In addition to the ongoing struggles with ride-hailing companies such as Uber, operators have been hit by punitive licence rises from TfL, which is causing serious damage to the market, especially among smaller operators. The big fleets are holding steady, but the overall London fleet fell by more than 1%.

Region 2019 2018 19-18 CHG % GROWTH
North-west 11,405 10,500 905 8.62%
South-east 6,681 6,315 366 5.80%
Wales & South-west 2,460 2,360 100 4.24%
North-east 9,130 9,020 110 1.22%
Northern Ireland 1,725 1,725 0 0.00%
Scotland 4,920 4,920 0 0.00%
London 13,555 13,705 -150 -1.07%
Midlands 9,021 9,231 -210 -2.27%
  58,897 57,776 1,121 1.94%

Regional breakdown – Northern England represents more than 50% of total fleet

Of the 100 companies included in the ProDriver 100, 86 are English, 10 are Scottish, two are based in Wales and two in Northern Ireland.

The number of ProDriver 100 companies headquartered inside the M25 continues to fall. In 2017 there were 19; last year 18 and now 17. The 31 operators in London and the south-east run more than one-third of the total car fleet, a proportion inflated by the biggest London fleets.

There are 53 major fleets of 270 cars or more in the Midlands and North of England, with major concentrations in big cities. Those 51 fleets operate just over 50% of the total fleet.

Of particular note is Merseyside, where the biggest operators are very large indeed, and mergers are making the big bigger. The leading four operators around Liverpool and the Wirral operate more cars than the 10 biggest in Greater Manchester, where ownership is more fragmented and average fleet size is smaller.

The West Midlands has seen some aggressive local growth – the top 13 firms in the region have overtaken their Mancunian counterparts, and operate a combined 6,401 cars.

Region Total Cars Operators ’19 Operators ’18
       
London 13,555 17 18
South-East 6,681 14 12
London & South-east total 20,236 32 30
       
Yorkshire 4,960 7 8
North-East 4,170 8 8
North-east region total 9,130 15 16
       
Greater Manchester 4,995 11 10
Merseyside 5,975 7 4
North-West 435 1 3
North-west region total 11,405 19 17
       
West Midlands 6,401 13 11
East Midlands 2,045 5 5
North Midlands 575 1 2
Midlands region total 9,021 19 18
       
South-West 1,350 2 4
Wales 1,110 2 2
South-west/Wales total 2,460 4 6
       
Scotland 4,920 10 10
Northern Ireland 1,725 2 3
       
  58,897 100  

GREATER London

RANK PD100 COMPANY CITY 19 FLEET 18 FLEET CHG
1 1 Addison Lee London 3,750 4,300 -550
2 2 ComCab / Dial a Cab London London 2,700 2,500 200
3 8 Tristar West Drayton 950 1,025 -75
4 25 Parker Car Service Isleworth 660 660 0
5 28 Brunel London 600 400 200
5 28 Green Tomato Cars London 600 600 0
7 35 The Keen Group London 540 500 40
8 38 Goldline Car Services London 510 510 0
9 39 Skyex Hayes 500 515 -15
10 48 iRide London London 450 450 0
11 62 Atlas Cars London 400 400 0
11 62 Abbey Cars Feltham 400 400 0
13 73 A1 Minicabs Romford 350 325 25
15 80 Data Cars London 325 300 25
16 95 Station Cars Purley 275 275 0
16 95 Fairway & Kenwood Taxis London 275 275 0
18 99 Advance Cars London 270 270 0
    TOTAL   13,555 13,705 -150

South east

RANK PD100 COMPANY CITY 19 FLEET 18 FLEET CHG
1 18 Aqua Cars Portsmouth 750 725 25
2 22 Speedline Taxi Ltd Milton Keynes 715 715 0
3 23 Skyline Taxis Milton Keynes 700 500 200
4 24 Panther Taxis Ltd       Cambridge 679 660 19
5 28 Southern Taxis Saltdean 600 600 0
6 44 Royal Cars Oxford 472 475 (3)
7 59 Radio Taxis Southampton 420 415 5
8 61 Go Cars Luton 405 410 (5)
9 67 Roadrunners Gatwick 375 250 125
10 71 Streamline Taxis Brighton 365 365 0
11 80 001 Taxis Oxford 325 325 0
11 80 Brighton and Hove Radio Cabs Brighton 325 325 0
13 91 Alpha Cars Crawley 290 290 0
14 100 Hawk Express Cabs Ipswich 260 260 0
    TOTAL   6,681 6,315 366

Wales & South west

RANK PD100 COMPANY CITY 19 FLEET 18 FLEET CHG
1 7 V-Cars Bristol 1,050 950 100
2 12 Dragon Taxis Cardiff 850 850 0
3 86 Taxi First Plymouth 300 300 0
4 100 Capital Cabs Cardiff 260 260 0
    TOTAL   2,460 2,360 100

Midlands

RANK PD100 COMPANY CITY 19 FLEET 18 FLEET CHG
1 6 Go Carz Shrewsbury 1,200 1,200 0
2 18 DG Taxis Nottingham 750 950 -200
3 21 A2B Radio Cars Solihull 720 720 0
4 31 King Kabs Chester 575 420 155
5 32 Lucky 7 Private Hire Stoke-On-Trent 556 556 0
6 39 Central Taxis Coventry 500 500 0
7 47 Castle Cars Birmingham 460 460 0
8 48 247 Radio Cars Birmingham 450 450 0
9 52 TC Cars Birmingham 435 435 0
10 55 AK Manor Birmingham 425 425 0
11 59 Star Cars Birmingham 420 420 0
12 67 TOA Taxis Birmingham 375 500 -125
13 69 Albatross Cars Derby 370 370 0
14 73 Central Cars Nottingham 350 350 0
15 86 ABC Cars Wolverhampton 300 300 0
15 86 Nottingham Cars Nottingham 300 370 -70
17 92 Ambassador Cars Birmingham 280 250 30
17 92 Heritage Cars Birmingham 280 280 0
19 95 Bounds Taxis Northampton  275 275 0
    TOTAL   9,021 9,231 -210

North east

RANK PD100 COMPANY CITY 19 FLEET 18 FLEET CHG
1 4 City Taxis Sheffield 1,950 1,950 0
2 10 Boro Taxis Middlesbrough 915 915 0
3 11 Amber Cars Leeds Leeds 900 850 50
4 18 Arrow Cars Leeds 750 750 0
5 26 Blueline Taxis Newcastle-Upon-Tyne 650 650 0
6 37 Noda Taxis Newcastle-Upon-Tyne 520 520 0
7 42 Budget Taxis Newcastle-Upon-Tyne 480 410 70
8 48 Royal Cars Stockton-On-Tees 450 465 -15
8 48 Dean Taxis Gateshead 450 430 20
10 54 Wheels Private Hire Leeds 430 430 0
11 55 LA Taxis Newcastle-Upon-Tyne 425 430 -5
12 83 Premier Cars Leeds 320 330 -10
13 84 Huddersfield Taxis Huddersfield 310 310 0
14 86 City Cabs Leeds 300 300 0
15 92 Phoenix Cars Blyth 280 280 0
    TOTAL   9,130 9,020 110

North west

RANK PD100 COMPANY CITY 19 FLEET 18 FLEET CHG
1 3 Delta Taxis Bootle 2,200 2,100 100
2 5 Alpha Taxis Liverpool 1,350 1,100 250
3 15 Street Cars Manchester 775 607 168
3 15 Argyle Satellite Birkenhead 775 700 75
5 27 Britannia Taxis Liverpool 625 625 0
6 33 Club Cars Wythenshawe 550 650 -100
6 33 Mainline Sevens Salford 550 550 0
8 36 Metro Taxis Bolton 525 525 0
9 39 Lynx Taxis Stockport 500 300 200
10 52 Max Cabs Accrington 435 325 110
11 55 Cresta Cars Manchester 425 425 0
12 62 Metro Taxis Stockport 400 410 -10
13 66 Abba Cars Warrington 380 330 50
14 69 ComCab Liverpool Liverpool 370 370  
15 78 Magnum Whiteline Taxis Manchester 330 280 50
15 78 Elton Bullitt Bury 330 330  
17 84 Mantax Cars Manchester 310 310 0
18 86 Manchester Cars Manchester 300 300 0
19 95 SRC Taxis Liverpool 275 263 12
    TOTAL   11,405 10,500 905

Scotland

RANK PD100 COMPANY CITY 19 FLEET 18 FLEET CHG
1 12 Glasgow Taxis Glasgow 850 850 0
2 15 Network Private Hire Glasgow 775 775 0
3 43 City Cabs Edinburgh 475 475 0
4 45 Capital Cars Edinburgh 465 465 0
5 45 Central Radio Taxis Edinburgh 465 465 0
6 55 Rainbow City Taxis Aberdeen 425 425 0
7 62 ECPH Edinburgh 400 400 0
8 71 Southside Radio Cars Glasgow 365 365 0
9 73 Kelvin Kabs East Kilbride 350 350 0
10 73 Tele Taxis Dundee 350 350 0
    TOTAL   4,920 4,920 0

Norhern Ireland

RANK PD100 COMPANY CITY 19 FLEET 18 FLEET CHG
1 9 Fonacab Belfast 925 925 0
2 14 Value Cabs Belfast 800 800 0
    TOTAL   1,725 1,725 0

Disclaimer

Professional Driver has endeavoured to ensure that the data in this survey is correct and accurate, and all steps have been taken to achieve this. However, it is possible that some fleet sizes may have changed, or some companies may have been omitted due to a lack of available information. If you believe your company should be included in the ProDriver 100, please contact us via email – editor@prodrivermags.com.